On Wednesday, it was announced that the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) will be closing several offices in Ontario, including the one located in St. Catharines.
This decision comes after the provincial government stated they were reviewing the insurance board.
The shutdown in St. Catharines will result in 43 job losses, with a potential total of up to 466 jobs lost across Ontario.
Other affected locations include Kingston, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Windsor, Guelph and Waterloo.
A WSIB spokesperson couldn’t confirm specific job numbers but mentioned that “not had storefront offices across Ontario since the pandemic hit in 2020, with support being delivered online, by telephone, and through expanded in-person local health care access with new partnerships to provide physical and mental health care without having to travel.”
They noted that consolidating operations was a tough business choice.
“These cuts will mean the loss of good local jobs and, importantly, the loss of experienced, high-seniority workers who carry years of institutional knowledge about Ontario’s workers’ compensation system,” said NDP MPP for St. Catharines Jennie Stevens in a statement. “It is difficult to reconcile these cuts with Premier Doug Ford’s recent message to St. Catharines residents touting the creation of 119,000 jobs in Ontario and his intent to bring more jobs to Niagara over the past four months.”
“The government and the WSIB need to explain why these cuts are happening, why St. Catharines is losing its office, and how removing hundreds of experienced workers will improve service for the people who depend on it.”
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